Bridge Partners Finds Chief Program Officer for Win

August 1, 2018 – Executive recruitment firm Bridge Partners has placed Darlene William as chief program officer of the housing group Win, formerly Women In Need. Partner and co-founder Tory Clarke led the search along with partner Janet Albert.

Win was seeking an executive with a minimum of 10 years leadership experience in a scaling/high growth non-profit, government or philanthropy, overseeing multiple programs or contracts.

Dr. William fit that bill. She was previously assistant commissioner for Whole Health and Community Resilience at the New York City Department of Veterans Services, where she marshalled the collective resources of the city to expand benefits, services, education and career opportunities for veterans through a rapidly growing network of public, private and non-profit partners. Her prior career includes leadership roles at the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Salvation Army.

New Role

“This is a newly-created position at a well-established organization with an incredible mission – to help women and children rebuild their lives and end the cycle of homelessness,” said Ms. Clarke. “Christine Quinn is CEO, they have a very strong leadership team and are on a significant growth trajectory following Mayor Di Blasio’s announcement that 90 shelters would open in New York City over the next five years.”

In her new position as chief program officer, Dr. William is charged with evaluating the effectiveness of current programs and services. She is also responsible for introducing best practices from the field that will influence and inform the structure of the organization, decision-making processes, program design and service delivery and allowing for transparent and ongoing feedback across all functions, said the recruiter. Dr. William will support the CEO to promote and diversify funding through effective resource stewardship at an agency with a healthy mix of government funding and private philanthropic support. She is also responsible for raising the agency’s profile through external communications.

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Win provides safe housing, critical services and innovative programs to help homeless women and their children rebuild their lives and break the cycle of homelessness. In the past year, the charity served close to 10,000 homeless people, including nearly 6,000 children, and helped more than 800 families transition out of shelters into homes of their own.

Bridge Partners also recruited Dayneen Caldwell as VP of human capital at Win. She will be serving as a critical member of the executive team articulating, disseminating and implementing the strategic vision and leadership of the human capital function and ensuring excellent service delivery. Ms. Caldwell previously spent five years at Fedcap, where she oversaw all aspects of HR for the growing organization.

Veteran Recruiters

Bridge Partners is a certified minority supplier and a minority business enterprise. Based in New York, with offices in Washington, D.C. and Boston, the firm has completed a number of other higher education/academia senior leadership searches for roles such as head of human resources, head of finance, head of audit and deans. Its clients include GE, TIAA-CREF, Colgate, YMCA, Novartis, Starbucks, Habitat for Humanity and the Federal Reserve System.

Ms. Clarke supports senior global search assignments for private sector, public sector and international non-profit/social venture clients, across all functions. A 20-year veteran of the executive search industry, she has recruited diverse executives, including CEO/presidents and their leadership teams, at both head office and regional locations around the globe.

Before starting Bridge Partners in 2003, Ms. Clarke was a consultant in Whitehead Mann’s U.S. retail and diversity practices, joining the New York office in 2000. Prior to her move to the U.S., she spent several years with Whitehead Mann’s European consumer practice, headquartered in London. Earlier in her career, Ms. Clarke was with STCP, a boutique London-based search firm, working across a variety of sectors including consumer, pharmaceutical and industrial.

Ms. Albert leads Bridge Partners’ U.S. non-profit practice and works on senior-level search assignments for foundation, government and non-profit organizations, across all functions, including executive directors/CEOs and their leadership teams. Her clients range from private, community and family foundations, to economic development organizations, to both large national and local non-profits. Ms. Albert has been in executive search for over 20 years. Before joining Bridge Partners in 2010, she was a senior director in the executive search practice of the Bridgespan Group.